I write my books in my head, and not in a specific study with a view. The view is from my inner eyes.

I read all of Rider Haggard's books. For me he had the romance of Africa with a little bit of mysticism. I'm delighted to be looked on as his heir and be categorised as an adventure novelist because that's exactly what I am.

I don't want children. Why should I let some strange little monster into my life to destroy what to me is a perfect set-up?

I love the sea as much as I love the veldt of Africa.

Quite frankly, I think political correctness is the worst form of censorship. You're not allowed to speak your mind unless you're black, or unless you're a terrorist, or unless you're an Arab or a minority people. Then you can say what you like. But if you are like a lot of us you are not supposed to say certain things.

I shot my first lion at the age of 14 when a pride threatened my father's livestock while he was away on holiday.

Herbert, my father, was born in Britain but went out to Africa in his teens to join his father and built up an 18,000-acre ranch in what was then Northern Rhodesia, providing work for the locals. He was my hero when I was a boy.